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HEARING ON H. R. 1T480. 



A BILL TO PROVIDE FOR THE PURCHASE OF FORT FISHER, IN THE 
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA. AND TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL 
PARK THEREAT, ETC. 



Committee on Military Affairs, 

W-S House of Representatives, 

Wednesday^ January 19, 1910. 
At 11.40 o'clock a. ni. the committee. Hon. John A. T. Hull (chair- 
man) presiding, be.iran tlie consideration of H. K. 17480. entitled "A. 
bill to provide for the purchase of Fort Fisher, in the State of North 
Carolina, and to establish a national park thereat, etc.," introduced 
bj^ Hon. H. L. Godwin, a Representative in Congress from the State- 
of North Carolina. 

Mr. Godwin. Mr. Chairman, I Avant you to hear this delegation in. 
behalf of my Fort Fisher bill, to establish a national park at Fort 
Fisher. N. C. The first speaker I will introduce will be Major Risley.. 

STATEMENT OF EDWIN H. RISLEY, ESQ., OF UTICA, N. Y. 

Mr. RisLEY. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the connnittee, the 
House bill No. 17430 is not in the shape Avhich our connnittee of the- 
Blue and Gray of Fort Fisher wish it to be placed. The bill as intro- 
duced appropriated $80,000 for the purchase of land on the site of old 
Fort Fisher. We have gone over it with the bankers and those who" 
are acquainted with values in Wilmington, and we have agreed that 
that whole point from Craigs Landing to the end of the jjeninsula,. 
between Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean, can be bought,, 
about 1.800 acres, for approximately $30,000. AVe think that is all 
it is worth, and we recommend, if your committee shall see ht to report 
this bill, that you report the bill Avhich we will offer the amendment to.. 

Now, a single word about the setting aside of the ground of Fort 
Fisher for a national park, a national reservation. You, gentlemen,, 
may know, or may not, some of you, that that fortification was cap- 
tured on January 15, 1865, after the most violent assault that was^ 
ever made in the history of warfare. The Government of the United 
States had over 60 gunboats that pOured into that fortification on 
an average of 115 shells from daylight in the morning until 3 o'clock 
in the afternoon, when the assault was made by the First Brigade of 
the Second Division of the Tenth Army Corps, under General Terry. 
The regiment of which I had the honor to be a member led that as- 
sault, and for seven hours traverse after traverse was carried until 
the fortification surrendered. A more gallant defense was neA'^er 
made, nor was a more gallant assault ever made than that on F6rt 
Fisher. We have felt for a long time that that ought to be signal- 
ized by making it a national park for this reason, gentlemen : It is the? 
first, and I think the only, joint attack of the anny and the navy 



2 TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL PARK. ) I ^ ^ 

(luriii<»- tlie civil war tliat reMiited in successful assault. When 
Fort Fisher fell, the last breath of the Confederacy was taken out, 
because it was the only open port on the Atlantic coast, and the Con- 
federates were no longer able to sell cotton or acquire arms and 
munitions of war to carry on the fight, and really the last battle of 
the civil war. outside of the Weldoii ]*lank Ivoad. Appomattox, and 
the battles incident to the movement of (Irant south of Petersburg. 

I want to call your attention to this fact: Three years ago in Janu- 
ary the i)eople of AVilmington invited the Union survivors of the 
First Brigade of the Second Division of the Tenth Army Corps to 
come down and visit them, forty-three years after we had occupied 
Wilmington and taken Fort Fisher. AVe went. 71 of us. and we were 
entertained in a very hospitable way by the residents. AAV went down 
and walked over the old fortifications, and we agreed that we should 
ask the (iovernment of the United States to make it a reservation. 
In Sei)tember of last year we invited the people of AVilmington. the 
survivors of the Confederate army who participated in that engage- 
ment, to come to Utica. My old regiment was the Fourth Oneida, 
The Ccmfederates and they were given a most hospitable entertain- 
ment, and it was the most inspiring sight to see the old Confederates 
and the Unions walking up our main street hand in hand. One hini- 
dred thousand people witnessed it — 18.000 school children; and at a 
public meeting in our armory we had ijresent the Vice-President of 
the United States. Senator IJoot. and Covei-nor Hughes. Avho made 
excellent addresses, and at the close of it a proposition Avas made to 
ask Congress to set that battlefield aside as a national jjark. It was 
unanimously carried, and I believe, and I think it can be demon- 
strated, that that sentiment of the Blue and the Gray who fought at 
Fort Fisher would be a proper symbol of a peace offering to both 
Union veterans and veterans of the Confederacy. 

Now. gentlemen. I know of no sentiment. I know of no principle, 
that is dearer to the American ))eoi)le than the sacrifices made during 
those four years of ugly warfare, and the time has come when the 
North and South should be united even stronger, if it were necessary, 
than in the Spanish-American war. because the great leader of the 
Union forces in the civil war. you remember, at (Gettysburg said that 
the chords of tender memory which sprung from the graAe of every 
man who had suffered touched every heart. 

AVe want this appropriation of $80,000 to buy that land and make 
it a public park in the interest of peace and harmony, and I think 
Brother Smith. Avho surrendered to a corporal of my regiment with 
three other men. will say to you that the union of the blue and the 
gray in North Carolina has done more than all the ])reaching that he 
and the other clergymen in North Carolina ever preached for the last 
forty years. I will ask Mr. Smith to say a word. 

STATEMENT OF REV. J. A. SMITH. OF AVILMINGTON. N. C. 

Mr. Smith. Gentlemen, this is the third time I have appeared be- 
fore the conmiittee. I do not know whether many of you remember 
it, unless it is your honorable chairman. Mr. Hull, and our good old 
friend, Brother Bradley, who I think Avas in that charge. I am ex- 
ceedingly^ anxious that you gentlemen give us this bill. It is a duty 
you owe to one of your citizens here in AA^ashington. AA'^e had a meet- 

.-. ; rs^ 4 inio 



TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL PARK. 3 

ing of the executive committee of our association and we were author- 
ized to elect a president to take the place of (xeneral Curtis, that ideal 
American soldier who led the charge there and lost an eye and re- 
ceived two Avounds in each of his shoulders. On that ever memorable 
day he climbed up the third traverse. Avhich is still intact, with his 
sword, and he directed the movements which resulted in the capture 
of the fortification. We elected as his successor Major Reeves, of 
your city, as our president, and he left a part of himself down there 
at Fort Fisher; he lost a leg there. And it is such men as that Avho 
are before you, and you ought to honor them. 

A national park would be an object lesson to all the civilized 
nations of the earth. There is no doubt about that. Pardon a 
personal allusion here. "Wlien I appeared before you two years 
ago I showed you a picture of Comrade Seely and myself clasping 
hands at Fisher's Bloody (late the time of the reunion. The fact^ 
of the case were simply these: When I was captured I was captured 
by Seely. I was not a preacher then, and the King's English was 
rather mutilated at that time. We were both red hot. At the 
reunion in 1907 Seely and myself met and recognized each other,, 
and in the presence of hundreds of citizens and old soldiers Seely 
said: "Let's you and I. in behalf of the blue and the gray, clasp 
the hands of eternal friendship and undying brotherly love," and 
we clasped hands, and I believe that my comrades who are present 
here who wore the blue and the gray will tell you that that repre 
sented the sentiment of the Fort Fisher Survivors' Association, and, 
as Major Risley says, that reunion of the blue and the gray there on 
that battlefield of Fisher has done more to conciliate the two sections 
than all the preacliers from the snow-capped mountains of Vermont, 
to the Everglades of Florida — and I am not going l^ack on the clergy 
in that statement, either. I enjoyed that reunion^I am not depart- 
ing from the ancient orthodoxy — I enjoyed that reunion in the mag- 
nificent city of Utica spiritually more than I ever did a protracted 
meeting in my life [laughter], and I felt like one of my comrades 
there, who was a sergeant in my company and lost a brother right 
there at Fisher's Bloody Gate. He Avas one of our speakers up 
there, and he enjoyed the hospitality and brotherly kindne.ss of the 
citizens in ITtica in such sublime degree that he said : " Of course, 
when I die I expect to go to heaven, but if I don't find Utica there 
I am going to pack my grip and leave." 

To show you about this object les,son. when Mr. Godwin introduced, 
me to Mr. Roosevelt, when I ap])eared liere before you, I took the 
idea in my head that I would give the President a picture of Mr. 
Seely and myself clasping hands. T explained its history, and he 
said " Comrade. T must liave this ])icture." '' Well," I said, " Mr. 
Roosevelt, when I get back home I will send you a bran spang new 
one." He said, "A bii-d in the hand is worth two in the bush. I must 
have this picture." I gave it to him. He went and stood in front 
of one of the ambassadors — I have forgotten Avhether he was from 
Germany or France or Hungary, or Avhere — and he said "I want to 
show you fellows from across the sea this picture. Here is a picture 
that is realistic in its character. It represents two men who met as 
foes forty-two years before this picture Avas taken,'' and he said, ad- 
dressing the entire embassy. '' Gentlemen, you see those clasped; 
hands. It shows you fellows across tlie l>ig blue sea the stufi' out -<ivf 



4 TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL PARK. 

which American soldiers are made." I mention this personal inci- 
dent to confirm my statement that that will be an object lesson to the 
whole civilized world, and I want to see a monument there towering 
.•above all other monuments, with this inscription on it: "On the 
15th day of January. 1907. there was a victory here gained, a grander 
victorythan the victory of 1865. a victory of peace, and this monu- 
ment indicates that the olive branch of peace waves triumphantly 
•over the land of the free and the home of the brave." I believe this 
Fort Fisher reunion and the movement for a monument there has 
•done more for t!ie healing of the Xorth.and the South than anything 
«lse. 

STATEMENT OF MR. JOHN B. JONES, OF UTICA, N. Y. 

Mr. Jones. Mr. Chairman, I have very little to say, practically 
what I said to you a year ago. If Ave are going to have this site, 
give it to us just' as soon as you can. Our boys are passing aAvay very 
fast, and it is the great desire of their lives to go down there and dedi- 
cate that ground, as many of them as possible, and Ave vs^ant to take 
advantage of the time to get our great State of New York, which is 
very generous in those matters, to erect monuments there which we 
propose to have erected by the State of Xcav York as soon as pos- 
"sible, because Ave who are so much interested in this national park 
doAvn there to commemorate this great battle have got to see it. Our 
sons and our friends who did not partake in that battle haA^e not 
the same interest that A\e have. I ask you in all sincerity, give us 
this appropriation and let us begin the work that we Avant to see 
completed before Ave pass away. 

STATEMENT OF MR. H. C. McQUEEN, OF WILMINGTON, N. C. 

Mr. RisLEV. 1 would like to haA-e Mr. McQueen make a statement 
here Avith reference to the value. Mr. McQueen is a banker of posi- 
tion in Wilmington, and he will tell you Avhether this price which 
we haA^e put into this bill is a reasonable price for the land. 

Mr. McQueen. Mr. Chairman. I think it is a fair price for this 
land. This point there is a very eligible place for a resort, and some 
capitalists have been looking at it with that view. So it has a value 
of that kind. But Ave haA^e been oA-er the question with the OAAmers 
of part of this land, and Ave feel that $80,000 is a reasonable price 
for it. This bill that proposes to appropriate $80,000 Avas intended 
to include something else — to build some great memorial house there, 
T think, or something of that sort. AVe do not Avant to take that into 
consideration at present. My deliberate opinion is that $30,000 will 
buy this land, and there is no commercialism in it Avhatever. The 
people Avho OAvn it, if it is bought. Avill get the money for it. If we 
haA'e any influence in that way Ave will see to that. 

NoAv, gentlemen, I expected to address you, but my friends Mr. 
Risley and Mr. Smith ha\^e said to you all that I think can be said 
about it. You might ask this question, that if this battle of Fort 
Fisher was such an important incident, Avliy more has not been said 
about it? I think I can explain that. The great cA-ents that came 
immediately afterwards — the breaking of I^e's lines at Petersburg 
and his retreat and surrender. Sherman's march through Georgia 



TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL. PAKK, & 

and the Carolinas, the murder of Mr. Lincoln, Johnston's surrender 
at Greensboro — all these came along so overwhelmingly that the 
battle of Fort Fisher for the time was lost sight of and forgotten. 
As to the importance of the battle in a military way, Wilmington 
was undoubtedly the only open port, all the others having been closed 
up either by capture or effective blockade. Wilmington never was 
and could not be effectively blockaded. I could explain that to you. 
The coast there is shaped so that blockaders could not lie close in and 
guard these inlets. There were two inlets there. One of them has 
been closed up since the war by the Government. Cape Fear comes 
down there between these two inlets, and it juts away out into the 
Atlantic, and beyond that the Frying Pan Shoals spread 15 or 
20 miles farther out, and it made it necessary for these block- 
aders to lie away off to sea. Consequently, these fast blockade run- 
ners could come in there almost when they pleased and go out when 
they pleased. The State of North Carolina owned one of these 
blockade runners — I know about her — the Vance^ named in honor 
of the governor of the State, ex-Senator Vance. She made 12 round 
trips before she was lost. 

Mr. James Parker. Captured, not lost. 

Mr. McQueen. She was lost to the Confederacy, anyway. An- 
other thing, Wilmington was a vast storehouse there, and the sup- 
plies she brought in, which she exchanged in Nassau and Bermuda 
for this cotton and naval stores she took out of there, were the only 
subsistence the southern people had, especially the armies, and more 
especially the army of northern Virginia. If tlie Government of the 
United States had realized the importance of this point and taken 
Fort Fisher a year before, the war would have ended then instead 
of a year after. There is no doubt about it in the world. That is 
the importance of it from a military point of view. 

You might say, why is this southern man here who fought in the 
war asking you to celebrate his defeat? If you could have seen 
these reunions that these gentlemen have spoken of you would not 
need to ask that question. The men who fought out that war have 
put it behind them Avith all its bitterness, and they have jo"ined 
hearts and hands to efface from memory every Aestige of sectional- 
ism, and shoulder to shoulder they are marching to the drumbeat of 
the great and wonderful prosperity of this country. The Fort Fisher 
survivors, the blue and the gray, ask you to give them a chance to 
honor their comrades who lost their lives in this great fight. I thank 
you, gentlemen. 

Mr. Bradley. Mr. Chairman, may I ask Mr. McQueen a question? 

The Chairman. Certainly. 

Mr. Bradley. Mr. McQueen, did the operations on land at Fort 
Fisher cover so wide an area as 1,800 acres? 

Mr. McQueen. No, sir. Fort Fisher is situated about a mile and 
a half above the point of land there, and Battery Buchanan was on 
this point, a mile and a half below Fort Fisher. There were several 
batteries between the points facing the ocean. But the fort proper 
does not occupy all of this land. The attack from the fleet, of course, 
was on the whole front, all the way down to Battery Buchanan. As 
to the gallantry of the troops in this fight, I do not suppose there 
ever was such a bombardment as that in the world. The men in the 
fort had been for three days and nights without a chance to eat any- 



©, TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL, PARK. 

thing or to cook anything. Thev had to be packed in bombproofs to 
prevent being killed, all except a few who manned the guns. This 
assaulting column came in upon them in overwhelming nimibers, but 
this fight, nevertheless, lasted for seven hours, from 8 o'clock in the 
afternoon until 10 at night. 

Mr. Bradley. I asked the question for this reason : The purchase of 
land and setting aside of reservations has in the past led up to enor- 
mous appropriations afterwards for improvements, making roadways, 
etc., as in the matter of the Vicksburg battlefield, Gettysburg, Chat- 
tanooga, and other battlefields. It is the large appropriations that 
afterwards follow that make Congress at this time timid about buy- 
ing battlefield sites, AVould it not be advisable in this instance for 
you to condense this area somewhat — in fact, very considerably? 

Mr. McQuEKN. We would, of course, rather have the whole thing, 
but if necessary to get the battle gi-ound proper we would have to do 
that. 

Mr. TiLSON. You say 1.800 acres; there are only -^00 or 400 men- 
tioned here. 

Mr. Godwin. The committee has substituted a bill for that bill. 

Mr. KiSLEY. Permit me to say one word. The fortification at Fort 
Fisher is at the narrow point on the peninsula. We take the ground 
back to Craigs Landing as the onlv point on the river where vessels 
could land at Fort Fisher. Xow, t^ie land beyond Fort Fisher — that 
is, beyond Battery Buchanan, or the land batteries — is of very little 
value. It might be used by and by, after the park was made of the 
battle ground, for hotels and other things down there, and the land 
is not a large item beycmd Battery Buchanan. We do not care so 
much alxiut it, but we think we would have to pay practically about 
the same as we would to take the 1,800 acres, and the farther end of the 
peninsula Avould be, outside of a little portion of it, in coiulition that 
you could not improve it, because the tide is coming over it most of 
the time, at least part of the time. Avhen there are high tides, and we 
would not like to have Fort Fisher take the center of that peninsula 
and leave that point out thei-(> where it could be used for all sorts of 
purposes other than tiiat which benefited the park. 

(Thereupon, at 12 o'clock noon, the committee adjourned until 
to-morrow, Thursday, January 20, 1910. at 10.30 o'clock a. m.) 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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